October 4th – Winching myself up Shire Oak Hill at Sandhills at sunset, I noticed the potatoes in the fields that stretched to the canal had been stripped of their foliage ready for harvest. I love that view of Ogley Hay and St. James from here, and it looked beautiful and autumnal.
Elsewhere, harvested fields have already been ploughed, harrowed and replanted, with spring-like carpets of green sprouting winter crops, with almost springlike colour.
Whatever time of year, the farming continues.
August 29th – Not a fan of August Bank Holiday. The day off is nice, but it always feels like I should make more of it than I do, this Monday always feels like summer’s last breath, from here on autumn, cold, dark etc.
Of course, it’s rarely that – we will have more warm and fine weather before the darkness returns but I find this milestone sombre and sad.
It also reminds me of all the plans I had for the summer that never got done.
Today I was tired, having trouble with my hips, and recovering; so I stayed home, and did jobs on the bike and enjoyed the company of family. A short dusk spin up to Chasewater and back along the canal was enjoyable on a freshly tuned, fast bike, and painkillers had shown my aches the door.
It hadn’t been a bad day. The weather was good. Much needed jobs were done. And there are still fine, warm days to come,
August 26th – An afternoon off, so a long ride into Derbyshire over to Foremark reservoir.
But on the way, as I often do, I started with a run up the canal, and saw this fellow, taking the air.
Oh, for the life of a canalside cat!
July 31st – Rain is predicted for next week, so Home Farm at Sandhills were taking no chances, and when I passed by on the canal, the oilseed rape was being harvested.
The combine didn’t come close enough for me to work out how it was working, but it blew out a constant stream of chopped plant matter presumably with the oily black seeds threshed out. The machine really was shifting and the whole thing dramatic and impressive, throwing up clouds of dust as it worked.
I’ve often wondered how producing such tiny seeds for oil can be viable, but it clearly is. It seems a long time since these fields were glowing yellow with the bloom of it…
July 16th – I know the deer have been on Home Farm at Sandhills for a while – I accidentally photographed a lone stag there last autumn – but I’ve never seen a large group. Until today.
A grouo of red deer females, with three fawns, were loafing in a field margin but the canal, at the conjunction between the oilseed rape crop and some wheat. They were not nervous and seemed comfortable.
I think they’re getting here from CLayhanger Common, as previously I’ve seen footprints on Catshill Junction Bridge, and there seems to be a lot of trampling in the hedge-gaps.
The local deer population really is ubiquitous now.
July 8th – Short morning at work on a very windy, wolf of a day – beautiful to look at, but a the very devil to ride on. A short run over to Lichfield in the late afternoon via Chasewater was rewarded with beautiful views of ripening oilseed rape and wheat in fields around hHome Farm at Sandhills.
A lovely afternoon but hard work on the bike!
May 28th – A recovery day. I didn’t do much, but had to be at a function in Burntwood in the afternoon, so I pottered there in the sunshine of a breezy afternoon along the canal and via Chasewater. I’ll never tire of the stretch between Anchor Bridge and Chasewater; so varied in such a short run; urban gardens, rolling countryside. Green fields, open heath and factory yards. It’s all here, and all rather splendid.
My Horse Chestnut tree at Home Farm – my favourite, and my overseer of the year – is currently in glorious flower, like most conker trees. At the Chasewater Cottages, young rabbits regarded me watchfully from the buttercup-strewn lawn. And in a waterside garden, I loved momma and children scarecrows.
I’ll never love a stretch of canal more than this.
May 8th – There can be few finer sights at the end of a long ride than the sunset over Home Farm to Ogley Hay, punctuated by the spire of St. James in the middle.
What a fantastic sky.
April 10th – Down at the Warehouse, Where the Lichfield Road and Barracks Lane Cross, a horse’s neigh from where the Staffordshire Hoard found Hammerwich, some beautiful flowers by the horse pasture. Forget me nots, wallflowers, blackcurrant, daffodils, hyacinth and others vie for attention in a busy hedgerow.
A gorgeous sight on what was a blustery, rather cold day.
March 31st – Also greening up is the canal through Catshill to Chasewater; the traditional demarkation between urban and rural, this green line of water may be only feet wide but the difference from one side to the other are polar opposites.
But on a mellow, sunny spring evening, with low sun and long shadows, I wouldn’t be anywhere else.
I keep saying it; I shouldn’t have to – be we live in a surprisingly beautiful place. Treasure it.
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